PLATTEKILL >> A Plattekill woman has pleaded guilty to three misdemeanor counts of failing to properly care for horses on a Modena farm, an Ulster County SPCA official said Monday.

Constance Dirago, 58, was charged May 17 with 25 counts of failing to properly care for 16 horses on the farm at 89 Patura Road in Modena, a hamlet of Plattekill. The charges, all misdemeanors under the state Agriculture and Markets Law, were lodged just two weeks after Dirago was charged with animal neglect regarding an Orange County farm. Those charges still are pending in Orange County, according to Adam Saunders, executive director of the Ulster County Society for the prevention of Cruelty to animals.

After Dirago’s Plattekill arrest, an SPCA newsletter said the 16 horses were “living in overcrowded conditions, many emaciated and suffering from untreated medical conditions including mite infestations, dental problems, overgrown hooves and dehydration.”

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Under a plea agreement reached Friday in Plattekill Town Court, Dirago is barred from living with or caring for horses for one year and must pay court fees of $420, Saunders said.

Dirago, who Saunders said “hopes someday to be back in the (horse) business,” could not be reached for comment Monday.

“I would like to see a longer period of time when she could not own the animals,” Saunders said of the sentence. “It’s a bad scenario for all if you look at the big picture.”

Dirago signed over ownership of eight of the horses to animal welfare authorities but alleges the other eight are owned by different people, Saunders said. In court, he said, several people came forward “claiming ownership of the remaining horses” but actually intend to hold on to them until Dirago is able to take them back.

There is no paperwork backing up their claims, he said.

Saunders said the SPCA is considering whether to level charges against the other owners, “should they come forward.” He said they should have been aware that their horses were being denied access to water and food and had not been provided dental care or worming.

In early May, five horses were confiscated from Dirago shortly after she began renting and operating a horse farm in the northern Orange County town of Hamptonburgh, the county District Attorney’s office said at the time.

On May 7, she was charged with five misdemeanor counts of failure to provide proper sustenance for animals. She failed to properly care for more than 30 horses on the Hamptonburgh farm, and three horses died after she began renting the farm in March, said Orange County Executive Assistant District Attorney Bob Conflitti.

About the Author

Diane Pineiro-Zucker has been a reporter at the Daily Freeman since April 2013.
Pineiro-Zucker worked as a reporter in the Freeman’s Rhinebeck bureau in the early 1980s, left to become executive editor at Taconic Newspapers in Dutchess County, and returned to the Freeman in 2010 as a copy editor. Reach the author at dpzucker@freemanonline.com
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